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The Overall Divorce Process:

You are either the petitioner (the party that initially filed for divorce) or the respondent (the party responding to the petitioner’s filing).

An initial status conference is set, normally within 30 days of the filing of the initial motion by the petitioner.

At the initial status conference, you can ask for parenting time, maintenance (alimony), temporary debt payment, who gets to stay in the house and other requests on an temporary basis.

Both parties are required to exchange financial documents such as bank account information, tax returns, pay stubs, health insurance information, etc. and they have an on-going duty of full disclosure throughout the divorce process.

Almost all courts require the parties to go to mediation. Mediation can help the parties resolve issues without help from the court and any unresolved issues can be handled by the court through either temporary or permanent orders hearings.

The divorce is final once a judge or magistrate issues permanent orders based upon hearing all the testimony and reviewing all the evidence submitted by the parties at a permanent orders hearing or at any time beforehand if the parties have come to a final agreement on all outstanding issues.

Depending on which county the divorce is managed in, the length of time required to obtain permanent orders can vary between 90 days and 2+ years.